The present invention relates generally to routing a call to a dual mode wireless device, and more particularly to selecting a network for a call to the dual mode wireless device.
Wireless communications has been one of the most active areas of technology development. Wireless communications today covers a wide array of applications. The largest and most noticeable part of the telecommunications business is telephony. The worldwide growth rate in wireless telephony has been very aggressive over the past decade. Wireless phones today can now support voice as well as other services, such as the transmission of video, images, text, and data.
Another wireless technology that has grown in popularity is wireless local area network (LAN) systems, exemplified by the IEEE 802.11, called wireless fidelity, or “Wi-Fi”, systems. In particular, Wi-Fi has gained acceptance in many businesses, agencies, schools, and homes as an alternative to a wired local area network (LAN). Further, many airports, hotels, cafes, and other facilities now offer public access to Wi-Fi networks (i.e., hot spots).
Devices have been introduced that integrate cellular technology with Wi-Fi technology. Specifically, these dual mode wireless devices, often called “smartphones”, can send and receive signals via a cellular network or via a packet based network, such as the Internet (e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)).
Wireless carriers have enabled customers having a dual mode wireless device to switch between packet-based and cellular networking from the dual mode wireless device. The determination of which network to use for a call may depend on characteristics such as which technology is available for the call and the cheapest technology available for the call.
A customer's selection of a network, however, introduces an additional problem—the customer may not choose the “best” available network (e.g., in terms of network coverage or cost of calls on the network). For example, a customer may select a network to handle a call based on an incorrect perception that the selection results in cheaper services. This perception may be based on an incorrect belief that one network is always cheaper than another network.
To alleviate this problem, the dual mode wireless device may provide information to help the customer select the best network available. For example, the dual mode wireless device may provide an estimate of the charges associated with each available network for the call. The dual mode wireless device may also provide a signal strength associated with each available network. Even with such information, however, the customer may not choose the cheapest available network or the network with the strongest signal. For one, the customer may misread the information provided by the dual mode wireless device. Second, the customer may choose to ignore the provided estimates/information.
A recent solution to the problems associated with a customer selecting the network is an automatic selection of the network at the start of the call by the dual mode wireless device. Thus, the dual mode wireless device determines, for example, which network has the strongest signal and/or which network will provide the cheapest call for the customer upon the customer's dialing of the called party.